MUSING #38 - Freedom in Structure

MUSE: The freedom of structured brainstorming. 

MUSING: I had a lovely time yesterday walking around my old neighborhood of Covent Garden in London. I had plans to see a friend later on, so wanted to find a cute spot to sit and write beforehand. Since it was such a beautiful day and it’s one of the most touristy parts of London, the cafes I’d usually go to write were busy busy. I kept walking, waiting to stumble upon a space and get that “This is it!” feeling. And I did! The Seven Dials Market was being constructed while I lived there and I was thrilled to see that it is now open. I popped in and was pleasantly surprised to find a bright and airy atrium with interesting food stalls along the walls of the two story space. There was even a cheese tasting stall! I ordered from Yum Buns (steam buns and dumplings) and sat down to eat, people watch, and write. 

I had a few things to work on including reviewing readers’ notes on my feature to outline my plan for the next draft. I also feel the need to add one more scene to my sketch pilot and could have hammered out of a draft for that. But what was really tickling my interest was a new feature idea that I’d come up with on the bus the day before. All I had so far was a group of friends at a pub quiz. Earlier in the week my partner and I went to a pub quiz with a friend and had a very eventful night because we happened to sit at a table with some real characters. I liked the idea of writing something that takes place in one night and that has an element of audience interaction (they can play along to the quiz as they watch). But the characters, goals, conflicts, bad guys, and all the juicy bits that make it a real story are still unknown to me. So I decided to dive into that. But where to begin? In the past I have started with characters. But I wasn’t sure yet if I wanted to focus on one team of friends, or people within multiple battling teams. To decide, I felt I needed to experiment what the different options would look like. I need to brainstorm. 

I tend to get a bit precious with my ideas. I can put a lot of pressure on myself to get it “right” the first time, as if only the best ideas come out first, which I know isn’t true. In order to let multiple ideas flow out of me, I needed to give myself a format or structure to go by and then just let it flow. I decided to use Snyder’s Save the Cat beats. 15 beats already decided, I just need to fill them in based on the characters and conflict I establish at the beginning. And after I do one, mix that up and do it again. And again. Until one speaks to me the most and I decide to flush it out. As I sat in the market I let myself flow into my first beat brainstorm. And it turned out great! Is it the outline I’ll move forward with? No idea yet. I plan to do one or two more today with elements that will lets something completely different flow out of me. I think I’ll go with whichever one is most surprising. I tend to play it safe in the action and rely on strong comedic dialogue, but for this I think something absurd can take place. 

I’m also excited by this idea because my fiancé will be helping me with the quiz elements. He is a weekly pub quiz participant at the nearby pub and very often leads his team to victory. He also knows a ridiculous amount of random facts. So with his help on the questions, I feel the movie will not only be entertaining but also fun for a group to engaged with together. I’m always striving to try something new in my writing - something that breaks the norm of writing for the stage or screen. But I’m thankful for structure and format that is already established to give me expectations to experiment freely within. Without that structure my ideas may just fly about in the “anything is possible!” mindset and it’d take a lot more work to bring it all together in away that makes sense to others. So starting with an established beat structure and letting it run free within its fictional walls.